From: Benoit Larose
Subject: Dark Victory (XTR): Comments
Dave wrote:
>>I too had difficulty - did any of your Mexican units make it inside
the compound? I think there needs to be a limit on the reaction fire
- as it is stated in the rules all Texan units adjacent to a leader
can react to all Mexican moves. So as long as you place your leaders
correctly you should be able to bring about a hell of a lot of
reaction fire on any poor Mexican unit that makes the mistake of
moving. I also agree that it's near impossible for the Mexicans to
waste any Texans. Have you tried waiting until the sun rises and the
darkness modifier is absent? I haven't - I've given up on this one
until I hear otherwise.<<
Well, in my first game, hardly any made it inside the fort or on the
walls.
Yesterday, though, it was a little better with the Mexican reaching 50
or so step losses on turn 7, after taking the whole southern
Intermediate wall section and part of the eastern. There was more
Texan casualties this time mostly due to melees on the ground. I gave
up.
So it seems that it is better to launch a full coordinated assault
with 4 columns than commit them as they become available (it's
logical). However, it didn't help me much for the win.
To wait for the sun to come up doesn't sound like a good idea IMHO
because it will help Texans kill even more Mexicans than the opposite,
I would think.
No really, the factors which throw the balance off are, in no
particular order:
Can't climb high walls even with ladders: in effect limits the
assault to 50% of the outer walls sections
Ladder check done only when all columns are in contact: simply forces
columns 1 & 2 to remain under fire for too long unless you really wait
for column 3 which becomes in position to asault on turn 6 at best (1
third of the game is now over)
Texan firepower: 3 shots per turn per Texan unit (plus Extra Guns) is
a lot of lost steps for the Mexicans, especially with the +5 for
Height Advantage (shades of ASL!)
Stacking limit of 4 on walls: in effect puts both sides on parity,
meaning even more step losses for the Mexicans
Importance of Mexican leaders: allows Texans to pick on them
selectively and limit the attackers a great deal
Stacking limits during movement: creates crazy bottlenecks for the
Mexicans where a unit who manages to open a door (all AF) blocks the
way to others who need to cross it to carry on the attack.
Etc. Etc.
On your comment about reaction fire: remember that the Texans can
Fire only ONCE during reaction unless they have Extra Guns. in which
case they can Fire again but vs. a different unit (that's how we
played it. Didn't help much.)
So, unless somebody comes up with a serious rules misinterpretation on
our part and/or with a totally different strategy leading to a better
Mexican performance, this title is history for me :-(
Benoit